As a winemaker I have had the chance to work and eat in may fine restaurants in many counties and I must say that I have rarely enjoyed a meal as I have in twice in past week at Olimpia.

From the minute I took the steps down to this sparse, clean but inviting space I knew I was in the hands of a serious chef and sommelier. The brief list of ingredients and the only choice of the number of courses, only reinforce the idea of letting go and just awaiting great food. In a world of gimmicky pairings, each dish was balanced, focused and delicious. The wines are a nostalgic tour of Hungary's recent explosion of wine culture - all were good, some were great but each were memorable and a narrative of the emerging wines in Hungary.

Not the place for all, but Olimpia is a distillation of the the best of new generation of food and wine in Hungary. Hats off.

As a winemaker I have had the chance to work and eat in may fine restaurants in many counties and I must say that I have rarely enjoyed a meal as I have in twice in past week at Olimpia.

From the minute I took the steps down to this sparse, clean but inviting space I knew I was in the hands of a serious chef and sommelier. The brief list of ingredients and the only choice of the number of courses, only reinforce the idea of letting go and just awaiting great food. In a world of gimmicky pairings, each dish was balanced, focused and delicious. The wines are a nostalgic tour of Hungary's recent explosion of wine culture - all were good, some were great but each were memorable and a narrative of the emerging wines in Hungary.

Not the place for all, but Olimpia is a distillation of the the best of new generation of food and wine in Hungary. Hats off.

I just wrote a big rant on Tripadvisor, seek it out for a wholly negative view of the place. In short: for $50 per person, this place is way overpriced for Budapest, and underwhelming. Random dishes with no particular sense of a trajectory piled one after another with decent but not spectacular wine. One dish stands out negatively: a roast chicken that was bloody (salmonella! duh!). Desert of chestnut puree filled with goat cheese was horrible too. the price tag of 37,000 for four people is outrageous, and then it's cash only. in the 21st century. not recommended. if you're in Budapest for a few days only, try other restaurants. if you live here, and feel like wasting a pile of dough and a night out, you can give it a shot, but don't fall for the snobs that insist this is a must try. it is most certainly not.

We are just back from Olimpia where we celebrated my wife's birthday. The decor is really over the top and it is true that this restaurant moved into something that used a Greek joint. So there are some Ionian columns and some sea, but the food and service was different. The service was nice and attentive, their English was moderate. This resto has fixed menues of 3, 4 5 or 6 dishes. We had 6 dishes, that turned out to be 8 dishes at the end.
The first dish was duck live with shredded mango and topped with smoked fat. Too fatty for us. The second dish was apple lamb soup. Not too sweet but not usual for us. Followed a sort of risotto, with wild asparagus and poricini mushrooms. Not bad, a bit watery. The 4th dish was veal with pumpkin and rosemary - this was really good. Duck breast with cikoria followed and dck breast with beets. The latter two were not to kill for. We got some nice cheese and finished with a dessert of wet previously fried dough filled with chocolate cream and some egg-white foam and a line of mashed mint. Nothing to die for. The best part was the wine. Each course was accompanied with a different glass of wine. The dessert wine was really good. The bill was not out of this world. Would I come back here? Maybe, but only for a couple fo courses.